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Carolina Gardening

Clethra: Old or new wood?

18 years ago

I have some Ruby Spice clethra around the patio and need to prune it to maintain size. Most of the research I've done so far states it blooms on new wood and to prune it while dormant. HOWEVER, Dirr states it blooms on OLD wood... GASP, is the demigod of shrubs wrong? Would hate to lose an entire season of blooms because of incorrect pruning.

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Comments (3)

mrsboomernc
18 years ago
mt
Toby Bost's "North Carolina Gardener's Guide" says clethra can be pruned in late fall or early spring.

Bost goes on to say the genus clethra "contribute to the sensuality of the summer's landscape" and "the intense fragrance of this old-fashioned shrub permeates the air" ... and they thrive in shade or full sun. wow! another gem added to my list :)
alicia7b
18 years ago
I was waiting for someone to catch Dirr in a mistake :), except he didn't make one in the fifth edition anyway, he does say that it blooms on the current year's growth. I can personally vouch that it blooms on the current year's growth, as it grows on my place everywhere like a WEED, albeit a lovely weed.

As a sidebar, Dirr's Manual is not the ultimate resource for cultivars and zone hardiness at this point because it's been 7 years since its last revision.

The flowers can be in a raceme, panicle (branched raceme), or thryse (racemose panicle).
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hi, sorry im not an expert, just gonna say what i have read from other posts. a lot of people want nice neat trees so they always pinch and prune, then wonder why they get no fruit. i think i read that the trees will not flower or fruit unless they have a certain number of new shoots or nodes or something like that - sorry to the experts, i dont know any of the terminology!!! so when newer growth is cut off or pinched off, we are holding the tree back from fruiting. i think fruits will only grow on newer shoots rather than old woody stems, but dont quote me on that, just something i think i read! how to get around this i dont know, im sure this is a good place for one of the more experienced members to jump in......... i let mine grow pretty wild - within reason. there is a certain charm to the haphazard way some of them grow :D
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It is pretty easy to get a decent match on older wood - if you are willing to pay! There are numerous companies that specialize in reclaimed lumber. They would be able to match you up with some planks from the same time period and mill them to match yours. We just did that with heart pine in a 1912 house. It is not cheap though. Lumber, milling, installation/weaving, sanding and finishing came in over $25/sq ft. Fortunately it was just a few small patches. If you are just trying to make a new board look "old" - good luck. Modern lumber just isn't going to have the same look as the old growth trees they were logging 100 years ago. If you can swap out some boards from a closet for "free" that is a better option. As for the costs, ripping up 2 sections and repairing them obviously will cost more than just 1 section. For the urine damaged areas - whose idea was it to just sand? If you asked him to do it to save some money on repairs and now don't like the look, expect to pay to have it fixed. If you left it up to the contractor as to which boards to replace and which to salvage and he just did a poor job, then he should stand by his work and fix it.
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mtindixie
Original Author
18 years ago
Marsha and Alicia thank you both!

Marsha yes you have found another gem, you need to plant one for your nose's sake if nothing else! I'm partial to the deeper rose blooms of Ruby Spice.

Alicia I guess I didn't delve into Dirr's fifth edition as I should have, rather I obtained my information from his "Dirr's Hardy Trees And Shrubs" book and I guess he did make a mistake. Under the Pruning Times section at the back of the book he has Clethra Alnifolia listed as blooming on old wood, thus pruning only AFTER it flowered. Lucky you for having it all over the place!

Getting my pruners out now!!!

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